5 Comments to “Palmetto Bay’s Missing Litigation”

Good one SDM. It is clear that Madame Mayor Stanczyk is a liar when she claims transparency. She filters the information through her personal spinmeister Communication Director. Good news goes on the official web site and facebook pages, but they intentionally omit or bury information they do not want you to know. You see it with the community newspapers and Miami Herald. You can find the fluff. Try to find any news article not flattering.

There is no other conclusion from evidence that this is a corrupt government. They started the litigation link (thanks to transparency watchdogs like SDM, the Village Voice and even the former Mayor and Councilman), but do not update it. That demonstrates intent to deceive through omission.

This is a bad government. Only 2 of the 5 councilmembers are looking out for the residents. Perhaps they are only doing it so they are not themselves dragged down by the other three. The other three are delusional to think that they can simply reach into our tax purse to fund their obsessive vendetta.

You respond quite often to posts, so my question to SDM is at what point has Mayor Stanczyk herself crossed the line for either an ethics complaint or removal from office? The line separating irresponsibility was crossed long ago.

SDM doesn’t agree that what the Mayor and Council are doing is unethical as the term might be used by the Ethics Commission. So, removal by that process probably won’t happen. Any official can be recalled by voters if the question is placed on the ballot, of course.

From SDM’s perspective, acting against the public interest is the real violation for which the majority is culpable. More specifically, Mayor Stanczyk, Vice Mayor Pariser and Councilmember Lindsay seem content with the legal jihad against Palmer. Think about what they are saying to Palmer:

“You (Palmer) told the community when your site was in its original configuration that you would not grow beyond 600 students on the current site. (By definition, the Palmer application only applied to the original school property because they did not own the new property then.)

“You went out as a private entity and purchased land to expand. Now, you come to us (Palmetto Bay) and want to add 850 students and the facilities to support them on this newly acquired 30 acre site. You have violated our deal.” That is the essential argument the SOPs are making, though they always leave out the italicized parts.

By pandering to them, the majority inflames the SOPs even though they know that this new property has certain development rights, including rights to build a school. If some other school had purchased the land, the Village would have to let them build something there. Eventually, a court is going to determine – again – that the new land has capacity for some number of students and Palmer will be allowed to proceed.

In the meantime, an iconic local private school’s resources are wasted in years of litigation. At least hundreds of children who might otherwise have benefited from attending Palmer have lost the opportunity to do so. And, Palmetto Bay is spending record sums on legal fees that are directly attributable to the lawsuits related to this dispute. In the real world, this is called a LOSE-LOSE proposition.

One other thing is clear: those tax payers who do not live near Palmer are paying for the temporary peace now enjoyed by Palmer’s nearest neighbors.

So the question is why the Mayor and her minions don’t find a solution that satisfies – or equally pisses off – everyone? This same construct can be applied to the Shores property. All SDM is asking is that the Mayor and Council manage Palmetto Bay’s finances the way every resident or business owner must.

Bottom line: When an elected official misleads her voters and wastes precious resources, she should not be re-elected, certainly; and, if her behavior is particularly blatant and unscrupulous, she should be recalled.

Great work Watchdog SDM. You have pointed out more follies and gamesmanship from our (dis)honorable Mayor Stanczyk. She claims transparency and put up a litigation link then neglects to update it with the facts. I beleive that to be dishonest. Anyone looking at the link for the status of litigation will believe that only one case is pending. In truth there are many cases pending as that is what happens when you are a government, you get sued. There are more lawsuits that just the 3 involving Palmer, again only one Palmer suit is posted on the web site.
There are ongoing personal injury lawsuits relating to injuries or properly loses in village parks. There are contract disputes. Law suits happen and we are fortunate to live in a society where you have a court system to resolve these disputes.

It is disgusting in this case that the (dis)honorable Mayor Stanczyk puts up a link then lies through omission. Shame on her and shame on the rest of the council, especially the vice mayor Brian Pariser who should know better as a lawyer as to his duty to keep his clients, the village residents, reasonably informed.

I would say that you get what you pay for, but this council is well-paid. $1,000.00 per month plus perks. They are clearly not putting the time in for the amount they are compensated and it is the residents who suffer for it.

According to the rule of Mayor Stanczyk, information is on a what she wants you to know basis. She and Vice Mayor Brian Pariser will financially ruin this town and divide the residents beyond repair, but have a nice village picnic. We have 4,000 hot dogs.

Palmetto Bay Mayor Shelley Stanczyk and Vice Mayor Brian Pariser have many of the marks of bad leaders:
• They talk a good game, but do not walk it.
• They never listen to anyone. They think they know everything.
• No one ever sees them come out of their offices to talk to people during except when there’s a problem they want solved.
• Neither of them will ever accept responsibility for a screw up—especially publicly. It’s always someone else’s fault unless there is a perceived success, then it’s all her doing. (Mayor Stanczyk does not ever share praise)
• There is no progress. Things go to the council for a decision, but unless they know that their handlers agree, items just sit off agenda for months until there’s a crisis. They just won’t go against their handlers even if it’s the right thing to do, regardless of how important it is to the remainder of the community.
• Residents in-the-know and even village staff wish that things would change for the better, but leopards never change their spots.
• Everyone can compare the prior mission and the current inaction: even though the core values look great on the wall, they’ve become a bad joke around Palmetto Bay.